Rancho's bridges: Could barriers stop suicides?

Lt. Brian Schmutz with the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Rancho Santa Margarita stands in O'Neill Regional Park below the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge. His department has dealt with a number of suicides from this bridge over the years.MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Recent suicide incidents

SEPT. 8: The body of Michele McKay, 56, missing from Lake Forest, was found beneath the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge. She suffered "multiple traumatic injuries" from jumping, the coroner's office said

AUG. 13: A 21-year-old man told his father he would commit suicide off a city bridge. Officers saw him bolt through traffic and climb to the ledge. Deputy Felipe Martinez pulled him to safety.

JULY 7: A 22-year-old Ladera Ranch man was killed when he jumped from the Oso Parkway bridge just outside the city. He had suffered serious injuries when he jumped from the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge a year before.

JUNE 4: Deputy Tim Africano suspended himself across chain-link fencing on the Banderas bridge 50 feet over the 241 toll road and pulled a Rancho teen to safety.

MARCH 30: A 22-year-old man, who threatened to jump from the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge, was talked down by deputies, said Lt. Brian Schmutz, the city's chief of police.

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RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Brooke Vargas can't bring herself to go near the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge since her aunt took her life there last month.

When Michele McKay's body was found in the dry creek bed below the 66-foot-high bridge linking Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita, Vargas and other family members were devastated.

Vargas remembers her aunt as a beautiful woman with a huge heart who would help anyone. So she and other family members were concerned when McKay left her Lake Forest home on Sept. 3 without any personal belongings. They reported the 56-year-old woman missing, telling authorities she had been distraught over medical and financial issues. Sheriff's deputies discovered her body five days later.

"I think Rancho Santa Margarita bridges are becoming a popular spot for mentally sick people and it's heartbreaking," Vargas said. "I don't want to go there knowing people have done horrible things there."

Eight deaths and six thwarted suicide attempts have been reported at the four bridges in Rancho Santa Margarita since the city incorporated in 2000. Just since March, three people were talked down by Orange County sheriff's deputies, one man who survived a jump from the Santa Margarita Parkway Bridge in 2011 died in July after he jumped off a bridge a mile out of town, and McKay's body was found just after Labor Day.

The city, ranked in 2010 and 2009 as the state's safest among cities with similar population sizes in an FBI report, is making headlines over the recent bridge suicides and deputy rescues. And that prompted Councilman Jerry Holloway and several council candidates to say it's time for the city to install safety barriers on the bridges to keep troubled people from jumping and deputies from risking their lives to protect them. Other city leaders contend that safety precautions won't deter those determined to take their own lives.

"It's very depressing and discouraging to see this go on," said Holloway, who in 2010 called an emergency meeting after an earlier rash of suicides. "I'm wondering if we would have preventive measures, would these things have occurred? It's happened enough over a period of time to show it will occur again."

Holloway, whose term on the City Council expires this year, says he hopes to get the issue before his colleagues by the end of October.

CITY REPORT: BARRIERS DETER JUMPS

In 2010, the City Council heard a report stating that bridge barriers, netting and signs were proven to stop suicide attempts. Council members reviewed the costs – ranging from $3,000 for signs to $13.6 million for exterior netting. They also looked at a survey that said 78.2 percent of residents opposed any fencing or netting, many saying it would block views and degrade the look of the bridges.

Holloway didn't get the support he needed. Council members put off a decision on the netting and fencing and asked staff to report back when new information became available. Instead, the city posted suicide prevention information on its website.

Despite the recent headlines, city officials have said the city's suicide rate was at or below the county's numbers, citing a 2009 report. However, the 2010 county report shows Rancho Santa Margarita's rate is 11.5 per 100,000 and the county's rate is 9.3 per 100,000.

"It happens all over the place and you don't read about it," Mayor Tony Beall said, adding that he had not seen the latest report on suicide rates. "You hear about the ones where people hurl themselves onto freeways. Even if you invest in the greatest level of protection to save people from themselves, people who want to hurt themselves will, no matter what."

The city did add some safety features on the Santa Margarita Parkway Bridge after Gregory Wolters, a city contractor, died in an accidental fall in 2006. His family sued the city, claiming the bridge had inadequate lighting and railing. In 2007, the city used a $283,000 grant from the California Department of Transportation to replace tubular hand railing with cable railing.

A year later the city added more lights and also put poles in the middle of the two Santa Margarita Parkway bridge segments to prevent people from falling between them. The city has already spent more than $500,000 in safety improvements, Beall said.

Lt. Brian Schmutz with the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Rancho Santa Margarita stands in O'Neill Regional Park below the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge. His department has dealt with a number of suicides from this bridge over the years. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Santa Margarita Parkway bridge spans a dry creek bed in O'Neill Regional Park. The drop from the bridge to the creek bed is about 66 feet. Eight deaths and six thwarted suicide attempts have been reported at the four bridges in Rancho Santa Margarita since 2003, when the city incorporated and started keeping records. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A view looking east toward the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge in Rancho Santa Margarita. It has been the scene of multiple suicides and suicide attempts over the years. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rancho Santa Margarita motor officer Deputy Tim Africano saved the life of a teen who threatened to jump off a bridge in June. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rancho Santa Margarita motor officer Deputy Tim Africano's hands were shaking after he pulled a suicidal 17-year-old male over the fence away from the toll road side and saved him. The road as seen from the Banderas Bridge. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Santa Margarita Parkway bridge spans a dry creek bed in O'Neill Regional Park. The most recent suicide was reported just days after Labor Day when a Lake Forest woman was found under the bridge following missing-person reports by her family. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The railing on the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge is the only barrier. The city spent $500,000 for some safety improvements, including new cable railing, more lights and poles in the center of the two Santa Margarita Parkway bridge segments. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
On the narrow ledge just above the vertical divide of the Banderas bridge, a suicidal 17-year-old boy was about to jump onto the 241 toll in June. Despite purposely going limp in an effort to break free of Rancho Santa Margarita motor officer Deputy Tim Africano's grasp, he was pulled over the fence and saved by the deputy. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Traffic crosses the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge just east of Alicia Parkway. FILE PHOTO LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
The Santa Margarita Parkway bridge spans a dry creek bed in O'Neill Regional Park. LEONARD ORTIZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
On the narrow ledge just above the vertical center divide of the Banderas bridge, a suicidal 17-year-old boy unsuccessfully attempted to jump onto the 241 toll in June. CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Rancho Santa Margarita City Council member Jerry Holloway called for an emergency meeting in 2010 after a series of suicides happened from city bridges. Holloway wants to bring the item back to the council by the end of October. FILE PHOTO KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Michele McKay's body was found under the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge Sept. 8. The Lake Forest woman was reported missing on Labor Day by relatives. FILE PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT.
Lt. Brian Schmutz with the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Rancho Santa Margarita stands in O'Neill Regional Park below the Santa Margarita Parkway bridge. His department has dealt with a number of suicides from city bridges over the years. MARK RIGHTMIRE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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